The present invention relates to the testing of electronic circuit components in an environmental test chamber and, in particular, to an interconnection system for electrically connecting the electronic circuit components mounted on a burn-in board to control components mounted on driver/receiver boards in a burn-in system.
As electronic circuit components become more complex, an increasingly large number of electrical connections are required between each burn-in board and corresponding driver/receiver board in a burn-in system. One way in which these connection requirements have been met is through the use of a second driver/receiver board placed alongside the first driver/receiver board and electrically connected to an auxiliary board. The auxiliary board extends through a slot in an outer wall of the environmental test chamber parallel to the burn-in board, which extends through an adjacent slot, and is electrically connected to the burn-in board inside the environmental test chamber.
Although this configuration provides a large number of electrical connections between the burn-in board and driver/receiver boards, a large number of slots in the outer wall of the environmental chamber are required. This requires more space in the environmental chamber. In addition, the leads making the connections between the second driver/receiver board and the burn-in board are relatively lengthy and a more complex and costly burn-in board is required.
Another solution to the problem of increased connection requirements is to increase the width of the burn-in board and driver/receiver board and to use a long edge connector to electrically connect the burn-in board with the driver/receiver board. A problem with this solution is that it requires the use of a large, expensive driver/receiver board.